Brandy
Brandy is a spirit mostly made by distilling wine. The name comes from a Dutch word, brandewijn, which means “burned wine.” Two of the best-known and indeed best types of brandy, whose production is governed by strict rules, are Cognac and Armagnac, both from France. So, all Cognac is brandy but not all brandy is Cognac. Many wine-growing regions of the world also produce brandy, and the flavors vary according to both the types of grape used for the wine and the differing production processes. Most U.S. brandy comes from California. Brandy is also used as an ingredient in spirits such as Metaxa, a Greek spirit. A distinct type of brandy is fruit brandy, which is made from fruit juice, wine, or pulp from fruit other than grapes. Grappa, common in Italy, and the South American spirit called pisco are also types of brandy.
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We’ve written about Belle de Brillet twice before, first as a standard Poire Williams and more recently as a “Pear & Cognac Liqueur.” Now owner Rémy Cointreau has reformulated and relaunched the brand once again, billing it as a “Pear Liqueur with Cognac.” Reportedly revamped “from bottle to liquid,” it is currently a blend of…
As Benedicte Hardy likes to tell it, when she took the helm of Hardy Cognac nearly 30 years ago, Cognac was in a very different place compared to today. There was little international education around the spirit. A post-millennium cocktail revolution had yet to break the Cognac from its perception as an after-dinner drink for…
Independent bottling isn’t just for whiskey and rum, La Maison & Velier is bringing the idea to fine brandies from Cognac, all bottled under the Through the Grapevine label. Each of the six Cognacs in this line are designed to showcase smaller producers, a few of which I’ve never even heard of before. We received…
I picked up this bottling during my recent trip to Cognac, as it’s normally an Asia-only exclusive that I’d never even heard of before. (You can track it down stateside if you try, though.) A blend of 70% Grande Champagne and 30% Petite Champagne eaux de vie, aging extends for to up to 20 years.…
Inspired by Cognac, made in America, Omage is the brainchild of Julious Grant, a 30-year wine and spirits industry veteran with brandy in his blood. Omage is made from California-grown grapes (the varieties aren’t specified) with methods similar to those used in Cognac, all intended to mimic the king of all brandies. That said, it’s…
On a busy street in Paris’s 8th Arrondisement, you’ll find the official headquarters of Armagnac Castarede, the oldest Armagnac producer still operating. At the end of my recent Cognac-focused trip to France, I called up the office on a lark, only to find that proprietor Florence Castarede was actually on site and would readily welcome…
Our final day in Cognac took us to one of my all-time favorite producers, Camus, which is a smaller producer but considerably larger than Maison Ferrand. (Camus grows its own grapes for about 35-40 percent of its production.) Camus is unique in that is centered around Borderies, the north-of-the-river part of Cognac that showcases a…
You know the wine, now get to know the brandy. The massest of mass market wine brands, Stella Rosa, parachuted into the brandy business late last year, offering a trio of brandies at launch — all flavored and imported from Italy. We received one of the three: Tropical Passion, which is further described on the…
After a whirlwind day with a small producer, I thought we should contrast that with one of the biggest producers in the Cognac business. At last count Rémy Martin was the #2 producer of Cognac, battling out for that spot with Martell and Courvousier, who are all neck and neck and tend to hand the…
To know Cognac the spirit is to know Cognac the place. Cognac is the product of a minuscule region, rigorously protected by law and produced here and only here for centuries. This tiny town in the west of France is fully built by, for, and around the production of the world’s most famous brandy. “Without…